Meta Quest's Passthrough Camera API can now be used in Horizon Store apps
Meta's Passthrough Camera API could be a game changer for mixed reality, and developers can now implement it in their Horizon Store apps.
Version 76.0 of the Meta XR Core SDK promotes the Passthrough Camera API (CPA) from Public Experimental to Public. This gives developers the ability to implement CPA in apps that are available on the Horizon Store, or to publish new apps that use CPA in the Horizon Store. Meta notes that a "review process" is needed.
We expect the first updates for existing apps to be released soon, unlocking new features made possible by CPA. Until now, apps using CPA could only be installed on Meta Quest via sideloading. With the public release of the API, its benefits will finally reach regular users.
Experimental MR apps such as Twenty Guys, Lab Rats, and Digitalizer are among the first to demonstrate the new capabilities unlocked by the API.
What is the Passthrough Camera API?
Mixed reality stands and falls with a headset's ability to understand its environment, spatially as well as semantically.
Meta Quest has limited knowledge of its environment: the headset can create a rough 3D scan of the environment and identify individual objects as furniture, windows, or doors. Developers can only use this abstract information for their mixed reality apps.
With the Passthrough Camera API, apps can access the video feed from passthrough cameras and analyze a user's environment using proprietary computer vision algorithms and AI models, opening up new possibilities for mixed reality.
The Passthrough Camera API was announced at Meta Connect 2024 and released in an experimental state in mid-March. This did not allow the API to be used in Horizon Store apps. This restriction has now been removed.
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